“Jupiter Ascending” feels like an accidental cousin to other recent movies featuring female leads who have been chosen to change their world. Whether it be “The Hunger Games” or “Divergent,” movies in which entire worlds are built with their own rules, in which a hero is picked seemingly at random, and for whom a greater purpose is revealed. It’s like a young adult version of “The Matrix” but with way more space travel and alien creatures.

Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) is an illegal Russian immigrant, having been brought over by her single mom and extended family, and she is unfortunately in the family business, which is to say, she’s a housekeeper, going around to rich peoples’ homes all around Chicago and being envious of their possessions between breaks from cleaning toilets. She misses her father, whom she never met, and she says more than once that she hates her life, which is understandable because it looks like a pretty miserable existence. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, there is a royal family in outer space known as the Abrasax family, and they are having themselves a little land rights dispute, with the argument centering around Earth and its resources. And thanks to reincarnation, they know that the true heir to Earth is actually on Earth, and they want to find this person, with each family member having their own reasons for wanting to do so. So there is a race to see who finds her first so she can be brought to the family.Continue Reading …